142 



SCIEXCE-GOSSIP. 



Conducted ey Alice Everett, M.A. 

 (Hon. Set etar, i the British Astronomical Ass<:: it 











Position. 







i?;srt. 



Sits. At 



it 



it Greenu 







A.M. 



i .91 



R.A. 



Dec. 







h.m. 









JSun 



July 50 



... 4.22 . 



•- 7-49 •- 



- 8-39 



.. :-- 28' N 





Aug. 13 



- -1 



7 : : 



1 



A.M. 



s - 



:_ : 37' 



fiioon ... 



July 30 



12 _: . 

 i.:: 

 A.M. 



.. IO.O 

 P.M. 





:-; 





A ._ 1 



... (142) . 



Ris^s. 



A.M. 



.. 10 10 .. 

 Souths. 



A.M. 





26| 



' . 



July 31 



.. 3.26 . 



. 11.3 - 



" 



. :- 48* N 





Aug. 10 



... 3.0 . 



.. 10.48 .. 



S-3 



: : iJ 





L 



- 3-31 ■ 



.. 11.12 .. 



9-7 



.. if _■ 



Venus . 



July 31 



- 1-43 - 



- 9-56 - 



_ 



. 22° Jl' 





Aug 1 



... 2.3 . 



. I0.8 .. 



7 -: 



.. 21= 49* 





: 



... 2.24 . 



: : 1 





J. ;' 



.Man 



July 3 : 



1 10.21 



4-5 J 



1.26 



... ; : ::' S 





Aug : 



" 9-Si 



4-29 ■ 



1-43 



.. 6 Z 51' X 





2 



\ 9.19 



A.M. 



4.4 .. 



--:• 



■ 6 



'-.::-. 



: 



:: 2 

 - : :. 



.. 8.38 .. 

 Set 



' ; ' ! " 



2 - : 



Saturn .. 



. 





.. 9-4° - 



. 13.19 



... ; : 45' S 



Uranus .. 



July 30 



• :■:; 

 Risa 



" :: 



L 



A.M. 



- 1456 



:_ --;' S 





1 



... 12.18 



.. 8.20 . 



4 f' 



... 2I C ::' N 



Moon. 



. . A'jg. 1 ... c. 24 p.m. ::: __ • Aug. : .. : j.g a.m. 

 Full... ,, 16... 1.17p.m. 3rd (jr. ._ 24.1. -- 1 11 





occult r: - f stars . 1 - ^ 









.-. i . 





-- tglt 





Disappet 



Re-appear- 



from 



Date. 



i:~,. Mag. .. . . N. '-:. 



. 



':.:-: 



July 25 



19 Arietis ... 6 11.30 p.m. 60" .. 



. : :- — 



'-:'- 



27 



-'--::.-.:- ... 4J ^.40 a.m. 117= . 



_.: : 



-.--:- 



27 



: Tauri .. 6 11.51 p.m. 126' . 



I _ : 



: ;r : 





Sy::a ... 1 115 j:" . 



- I- 19 „ 



■ 



„ 6 



b.a.c. 453] : - _: 153- . 



- 



- ■- 



. 



5347 : - 66 c . 



- 9-10 „ 



21 



,. 19 



20 Piscium ... 6 3.5 a.m 



: 57 - ■ ■ 



:•- 



- 



.44 Piscium ... 6 10.6 p.::. 



: 451 



:•: 



., 24 



27 Tauri ... 4 1.2 a.m. 9' .. 

 XEAS approach:-.;. 



. 1.35 a.m. 



: - 



An 



_ ~-- -■ Tauri. 5th mag., at 12.5 a.m. 



- - 







:- :: Tauri, 5* mas., at 1.22 a.m. 



.: -.i ' ; :- 







26, 136 Ta it :_• a.m. 



. gle 171' 





The Sen. — The spots may be observed. 



The Moon. — On August 2nd, the day after New 

 Mocn, our satellite will set about an hour later 

 than the Sun, and the very thin crescent may be 

 seen. 



Mercury is a morning star in the constellation 

 Cancer, rising about an hour and a quarter before 



\':.- Sun 



Venus, also a morning star, is passing from 

 Cancer to Gemini, and on August nth will be in 

 conjunction with Castor, and on August 13th with 

 Pollux. Venus and Jupiter will be close neighbours 



:_rds the end of July. On August 2nd Jupiter 

 rises at ih. in the morning, and Venus an hour 

 later. Jupiter, ho e er, rise earlier and 



Venus later each succeeding morning, so that they 

 will rather rapidly separate 



Mars is becoming a little better for observation 

 It is passing from Pisces to Aries. 



Jupiter is entering Gemini, and is a bright star 

 in the early morning, rising about midnight in the 

 middle of August, and gradually earlier each night. 



Saturn, the ringed planet, is almost stationary in 

 Virginis, where it may easily be recognised, some 

 four or five degrees north of the brilliant star, 

 Spica, in the S.Vv . in the early evening. 



111s is in Libra, a little to the west of the 

 stars a, «, and 5 Librae. 



Neptune will soon be observable in Taurus, but 

 cannot be seen without a telescope of at least about 

 four inches aperture. 



Shooting-Stars. — The famous shower of the 

 Perseids attains its maximum on August 10th, but 

 continues for a considerable period before and after 

 that date. The radiant point exhibits an eastern- 

 motion among the stars. Its position for August 

 10th is a = 45 : 5 = -{- 57", for Jul} - 25th a = 27- 

 5 = — 53-, and for August 16th a = ^y S = — - - . 

 The meteors are characterised by swift, streak-liie 

 motion. Another of the nine chief showers of the 

 year is due on July 28th, the meteors being 

 characterized by slow motion and long paths. 

 The position of the radiant point is a = 339" 

 5 = - : _ 



The constellations Cepheus, Cygnus, Vulpecula, 

 Delphinus, Capricornus, will be in the South at 

 midnight at the beginning of August. The famous 

 " dumb-bell :r nebula is in Vulpecula, in right 

 ascension igh. 54m. 58s., declination 22° 26' X. 

 No telescope hitherto has been able to resolve it, 

 but Lord Rosse's great reflector gave a suspicion 

 of resolvability, 



The American observers of the solar eclipse of 

 1893 (April 16th) claim to have found a comet in 

 the solar corona on their photographs, but as the 

 interval between the photographs was only three 

 minutes the comet's motion in the time was not 

 sufficient to determine its daily motion, and there- 

 fore the arrival of the positives of the photographs 

 taken by the English observers in Brazil and 

 Africa was anxiously awaited. In X : . - : : . : " The 

 Astronomical Journal,' 1 Professor Schaeberle, of the 

 Lick Observatory, states that when these positives 



rre received he was delighted to find that thej 

 showed the comet, and thus enabled him to deduce 

 its motion, and to enlarge his theory as to the 

 coronal structure. The curious part of the story, 

 however, is that when the original English negatives 

 were examined by several experienced astronomers 

 they were found to show not a trace of the sup- 

 posed object, although Professor Schaeberle had 

 sent exact indications as to where it was to be 

 I: :l-:ei : r 



Diameters of the Focr Chief Minor 

 Planets. — Prof. Barnard has obtained, by direct 

 measurement with the 36-inch telescope of the 

 Lick Observatory, the following diameters: — 

 Ceres, 599 miles ; Pallas, 273 miles ; Vesta, 237 

 miles ; Juno, about equal to Pallas or Vesta. 



